Summer of '69
2019 • 432 pages
Ratings8
Average rating3.4
15
Ratings8
Average rating3.4
Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times they are a-changing. Every year the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same: Blair, the oldest sister, is marooned in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha's Vineyard. Only-son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. Thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, each of them hiding a troubling secret. As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car in Chappaquiddick, man flies to the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country.
Reviews with the most likes.
I really liked this book. I love that each one of the characters was so well defined and completely independent from the others. They all felt like real people. I loved the complicated family dynamics with petty disagreements and old resentments, as well as shared history and love. And I definitely love the idea of spending the summers in Nantucket or Martha's Vineyard.
I have enjoyed all the books by Elin Hilderbrand that I have read until now, and I can wait to read another one.
It wasn't until after I started listening to this book, that I realized I brought the paperback version with me this summer haha. Oops, oh well.
It took me awhile to get into this multi generational story. Maybe it was a little boring, I don't know. Historical bits from the summer of 1969 are sprinkled in, the characters around the events.
By the end of the book, I felt like nothing really happened and the characters didn't evolve much. A miss for Elin Hilderbrand. I usually enjoy her summer, beach, Nantucket books.
